Rio 2016 Team GB halfway review: Stars shine in water as new British heroes overcome odds for impressive medal haul

After the first two days of action in Rio, a sense of dread was building up amongst Team GB fans that we could be facing a far tougher away display than anticipated following the euphoria over the London 2012 medal rush.

The two cycling road races came and went without any medals, Geraint Thomas felled by a savage downhill finish and Lizzie Armitstead falling short in the same week her doping credentials were questioned after missed tests.

Thankfully breaststroke star Adam Peaty delivered in the pool with a phenomenal gold in world record time to give us hope that there could be more to come, Jazz Carlin acting on it straight away with a classy freestyle silver.

By the third day, the medals started to trickle in with Ed Ling one of the more fascinating stories.

In classic British fashion, farmer Ling battled it out with the world’s best, banked a bronze then switched focus immediately to the impending harvest back home. A no nonsense athlete who delivered on the promise.

Divers Tom Daley and Daniel Goodfellow were expected to challenge, but the way they kept their composure on their final 10m synchronised dive to pip Germany to bronze suggested a rosier day four.

Medley master Siobhan-Marie O’Connor soon lifted spirits on the fourth day with a stunning silver, the men’s 4x200m relay quartet swimming to another superb second.

It wasn’t until day five, though, that fans back home started to truly believe we were on the verge of something special at a Games whose build-up was dominated by venue delays and Brazilian political unrest.

Canoe slalom contender Joe Clarke produced the race of a lifetime to snatch gold from more established paddlers with divers Jack Laugher and Chris Mears raising their game to a stratospheric level to defeat heavy favourites China and USA in a nail-biting 3m synchronised final.

These two golds are what the Olympic Games are all about. Talented athletes excelling mentally and physically on the biggest stage of all to win medals.

Max Whitlock epitomised this superbly in the men’s all-around gymnastics competition to win an historic bronze behind Japanese superstar Kohei Uchimura. It illustrated how far British gymnastics has come in the last decade, the second week of competition promising more medals into the bargain.

Sally Conway was extremely unlucky not to win her 70kg judo semi-final, the way she kept focus to secure bronze soon after another feather in the cap of our fearsome GB athletes.

Shooter Steve Scott and time triallist Chris Froome duly followed up with more bronzes to give us exciting momentum heading into day six.

Track cycling and rowing have been traditional boons to our medal tally and our stars did not disappoint with our men’s sprint team powering to gold in the velodrome, leaving Katherine Grainger to team up with Vicky Thornley to claim a gutsy silver at the Lagoa in the double sculls.

Let us not forget, Grainger now stands as Team GB’s most decorated female Olympian in one of the most demanding sports across five Games and 16 years. The 40-year-old deserves all the plaudits coming her way for her emotional London 2012 gold and four silvers over a scintillating career.

It was the silver earned by the men’s sevens rugby team, however, that raised eyebrows around the world. They might have been destroyed by fairytale Fiji in the final, but it was the rugged way they triumphed in the previous rounds that won over fans and showed the true mettle of Team GB.

The huge smiles sported by canoe slalom silver medallists David Florence and Richard Hounslow added gloss to a tremendous day that set us up for a wonderful day seven.

Six medals on any day would be considered a success. It was the way the favourites bullied their rivals to win golds and the less fancied won silver that suggested this Games could be on course to beat the Beijing medal total.

The shock elation on Bryony Page’s face alone in winning a surprise silver on the trampoline would be enough to satisfy even the most hard hearted of British Olympic fans.

Arguably the moment of the Games so far for Team GB, the 25-year-old nearly gave up the sport after a two-year mental battle where she struggled to perform flips.

The men’s track team pursuiters, women’s rowing pair and men’s coxless four were immense, Sir Bradley Wiggins duly becoming Team GB’s most decorated ever Olympian. The way he let his team-mates take the credit before his customary podium japes a valuable lesson in humility.

Another swimming silver for freestyle queen Carlin and dressage team silver was the cherry on top as we entered potentially our biggest day of medal chances.

Anybody who followed the action on Saturday evening and stayed up in the early hours of Sunday morning to witness our eight medals deserves a patriotic pat on the back.

Mo Farah may well end up grabbing most of the headlines for his 10,000m defence, following a fall during the race, but it was the rowing eights who should be lauded equally for the way they performed.

The towering men’s eight regained their crown after a 16-year absence from the top spot of the podium, while the women’s eight dug in for a spectacular silver that had Olympic legend Sir Steve Redgrave in tears come the end.

In a day that produced moving stories at every turn, Becky James’ keirin silver after illness and injury would have made a glass eye weep let alone Jessica Ennis-Hill’s heptathlon silver that looks set to mark the end of a glittering career in a terribly taxing event on the mind and body.

Add in a slick silver from the men’s 4x100m medley team in what could be Olympic legend Michael Phelps’ last gold medal race, Greg Rutherford’s brave bronze and expected women’s team pursuit gold that sees Laura Trott become the first British woman to win three Olympic golds and you could be forgiven for taking a long lie down at home with a cold flannel on your head today.

The fact that the likes of Trott, Kenny, Skinner, Whitlock and Farah can add even more precious metal to their collection in the upcoming week two, alongside a host of other Team GB contenders in athletics, boxing, canoe sprint, cycling track, diving, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, hockey, marathon swimming, modern pentathlon, sailing, taekwondo, tennis AND triathlon then you can see why we should all be tuned in for every possible second over the next eight days as even London 2012’s 65 medal haul could be tantalisingly in reach.

Check out what lies ahead for Team GB in the Sunday 14th action

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